While making the LFS rounds this past weekend, I came across this gorgeous group of Bangaii cardinalfish. These fish are doing nothing but hanging out in a small group, and they honestly couldn’t look any better. They sit in virtually the same spot in the tank throughout the day, twitching their fins and repositioning themselves within the group. A rather large queen angelfish does intrude on the Bangaiis, causing the fish to merely move over until the angel loses interest in the cameraman (myself) and swim off. It’s really unfortunate that these cardinalfish are a little on the tough side to keep, assuming they are wild caught. The wild caught individuals don’t ship very well and usually die off one by one. Captive bred individuals always fare much better.
As I wandered around the fist store, I came across another group of fish. As I watched the red firefish gobies interacting, I started to comment out loud, and quite possibly to myself, that many hobbyists pass on such gorgeous fish because of their abundance or simply because they aren’t the hot item at the moment. There’s just something about the regular old red firefish and the yellow watchman goby that really draws me in. Their unique behaviors and beautiful, though not exotic, coloration is virtually unmatched by most fish.
